DAMIR SOBOTA
NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST NORTH
Bačva Gallery, Home of HDLU (Meštrović pavilion)
22.3.-14.4.2024.

Opening of the exhibition NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST NORTH by DAMIR SOBOTA will be on Friday, March 22, 2024 at 7pm, at Bačva Gallery (Home of HDLU / Meštrović pavilion).

In his foreword, Mladen Lučić emphasizes:
“ The new series of works by Damir Sobota, presented at the Bačva Gallery of the Croatian Association of Fine Artists (HDLU), represents a logical continuation of his previous explorations characterized by a unique approach to questioning the concept and nature of the painting. It is paradoxical in relation to this claim that Sobota does not paint using techniques and materials that conform to the established definition of painting; instead, he uses the collage technique to reexamine these concepts. Using, conditionally speaking, the language of geometric art, the artist emphasizes a non-narrative artistic language close to minimalism and the principles of primary and analytical painting. In doing so, he corresponds with the period of the 1970s when painting found itself at an almost zero point due to the dominance of conceptual art. Sobota’s previous work is, in a way, based on a kind of conceptual process, evident in his conceptual approach to solving painting problems exclusively through the collage process. He insists on the process as an artistic category, equalizing the meaning of the final product with the very process of creating the work. This process involves not only the physical but also the mental aspect, crucial for the proper perception of the artist’s works. (…) ”

Biography:

Damir Sobota (1988, Zagreb)
Graduated in 2013 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, majoring in Graphics. He has exhibited his works in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including Studio Tommaseo, Trieste Contemporanea, Trieste (2022), Institute of Contemporary Art, Zagreb (2021), Radoslav Putar Award, Salon Galić, Split (2020), Palindrome, Lauba/U10, Zagreb/Belgrade (2020/2021), Known Unknowns, Westpol A.I.R. Space, Leipzig (2019), 11th HT Award, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb (2018), and several editions of the Biennial of Painting, Zagreb (from 2013 to 2021).
He participated in a residency program in Germany and the USA. Residency Unlimited – New York (2021), Hafenkombinat – Leipzig (2017, 2018).
He is the recipient of the “Radoslav Putar” Award for the year 2020, as well as the Croatian Association of Fine Artists’ Award for Young Artist for the year 2017. He is a member of the Croatian Association of Fine Artists (HDLU) and the Croatian Association of Independent Artists (HZSU). He works as an external associate at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. He lives and works in Zagreb.

PREFACE
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The exhibition will be open from March 22 to April 14, 2024

Organizer: HDLU
With the support of: Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, City of Zagreb